This is the single-news section of the
marathonrally.com special of the OiLibya Rally 2009, second round of the FIA Worldcup for Cross Country Rallys. To see all news please use the link under the
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OiLibya Rally: What they said after Stage 2 Tunis - Qued Mellah.

Marc Coma, KTM, 1st: "A nice first special. Tomorrow I think it will start to get a little tougher. We are only at the start of the race."

David Casteu, KTM, 2nd: "Nice to be back on a track, ‘cos since Dakar I haven’t raced at all. As always it takes a little time to get back into the road book, but everything went fine."

Luca Manca, 1st 450 cc, 4th overall: "A good first day on the piste. I am very happy because the bike worked perfectly. My goal on this rally is to win the 450 class and why not get on to the overall podium."

Cyril Despres, KTM: "Not a great day. During the special a policeman sent me the wrong way and I lost a lot of time - something which doesn’t make me exactly happy."

Alessandro De Petri, KTM: "What a pleasure to be back on an African piste. My old bones are arching a little, but apart from that I feel great."

Orlando Terranova, X-Raid BMW X3CC: "I started off slowly but I finished fast. I still remember last year and know I had to be careful. The BMW is an excellent car and will be the car to beat this year. We aren’t in a team race. We are 3 individual drivers and we run our own race."

Leonid Novitskyi, X-Raid BMW X3CC: "I am not sure if my goal today was to win the special. Last year it didn’t bring us luck as we had to retire the next day. Second isn’t such a bad place sometimes."

Nicolas Misslin, Mitsubishi Pajero MPR13: "I am really delighted. I am getting used to the car and gaining in confidence. Apart from the deviation I am happy with my third place. I didn’t take any excessive risks, just a lot of pleasure."

Christian Lavieille, Nissan Dessoude Proto: "The start of the special was very slippery and you had to be careful of the cactus, but overall these 60 kilometres were a pleasure. There was a little confusion at the diversion, but I think it was the same for everyone. We didn’t have any rain, but there were some big puddles."

Guerlain Chicherit - X-Raid BMW X3CC: "The day didn’t go too well for us. The diversion caused us to stop twice and we lost a bit of time. Still, the rally has only just started and we have a lot of kilometres ahead of us."

Jean-Louis Schlesser - Schlesser Porsche: "It wasn’t a special for us, too twisty and with too many changes of direction. It was difficult to get the right track. Even if the buggy lacks a little horsepower, she handled very well. No problem with the co-driver - he just got a smack!"

Pascal Larroque (Co-pilot of Pascal Thomasse), Buggy MD: "A nice warm up even, if the diversion could have caused us problems. Without comparing it to Argentina, there were quite a few spectators out on the course which was a pleasure to see."